page_title: Christmas tree
section_title: Chrismon trees
hierarchical_section_title: Christmas tree / History / 1935 to present / Chrismon trees
caption_attribution_description: English: Chrismon Tree at St. Alban's Anglican Cathedral, Oviedo, Florida (Christmas 2010)
context_page_description: A Christmas tree is a decorated tree, usually an evergreen conifer, such as a spruce, pine or fir, or an artificial tree of similar appearance, associated with the celebration of Christmas, originating in Northern Europe. The custom was developed in medieval Livonia, and in early modern Germany where Protestant Germans brought decorated trees into their homes. It acquired popularity beyond the Lutheran areas of Germany and the Baltic countries during the second half of the 19th century, at first among the upper classes. The Catholic Church had long resisted this Protestant custom and the Christmas Tree stood for the first time in Vatican in 1982.
  The tree was traditionally decorated with "roses made of colored paper, apples, wafers, tinsel, [and] sweetmeats". In the 18th century, it began to be illuminated by candles, which were ultimately replaced by Christmas lights after the advent of electrification. Today, there is a wide variety of traditional and modern ornaments, such as garlands, baubles, tinsel, and candy canes. An angel or star might be placed at the top of the tree to represent the Angel Gabriel or the Star of Bethlehem, respectively, from the Nativity.
context_section_description: A "Chrismon tree" is a Christmas tree decorated with explicitly Christian symbols in white and gold.
  First introduced by North American Lutherans in 1957, the practice has rapidly spread to other Christian denominations, including Anglicans,Catholics, Methodists, and the Reformed.
  "Chrismon" (plural "Chrismons") was adopted for the type of Christmas decoration and explained as a portmanteau of "Christ-monogram" (a Christogram).
caption: A Chrismon tree in the nave of St. Alban's Anglican Cathedral in Oviedo, Florida
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